Strong has clear expectations of UT

With some exceptions for certain upperclassmen, coach Charlie Strong wants the Longhorns to live on campus, a departure from the old regime.

With some exceptions for certain upperclassmen, coach Charlie Strong wants the Longhorns to live on campus, a departure from the old regime.

Photo: Jerry Lara / San Antonio Express-News

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University of Texas Head Football Coach Charlie Strong flashes the hook 'em horns sign to end a press conference at the campus in Austin, Monday, Jan. 6, 2014. Strong, 53, formerly University of Louisville coach, took the job Sunday night replacing Mack Brown.

University of Texas Head Football Coach Charlie Strong flashes the hook 'em horns sign to end a press conference at the campus in Austin, Monday, Jan. 6, 2014. Strong, 53, formerly University of Louisville

University of Texas Head Football Coach Charlie Strong speaks a press conference at the campus in Austin, Monday, Jan. 6, 2014. Strong, 53, formerly University of Louisville coach, took the job Sunday night replacing Mack Brown.

University of Texas Head Football Coach Charlie Strong speaks a press conference at the campus in Austin, Monday, Jan. 6, 2014. Strong, 53, formerly University of Louisville coach, took the job Sunday night

University of Texas President Bill Powers, left, welcomes head football coach Charlie Strong during a press conference at the campus in Austin, Monday, Jan. 6, 2014. Strong, 53, formerly University of Louisville coach, took the job Sunday night replacing Mack Brown. less

University of Texas President Bill Powers, left, welcomes head football coach Charlie Strong during a press conference at the campus in Austin, Monday, Jan. 6, 2014. Strong, 53, formerly University of ... more

Photo: San Antonio Express-News

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University of Texas Head Football Coach Charlie Strong leaves a staff meeting before a press conference at the campus in Austin, Monday, Jan. 6, 2014. Strong, 53, formerly Louisville coach, took the job Sunday night replacing Mack Brown. With Strong is Salima Rockwell, associate head coach for volleyball. less

University of Texas Head Football Coach Charlie Strong leaves a staff meeting before a press conference at the campus in Austin, Monday, Jan. 6, 2014. Strong, 53, formerly Louisville coach, took the job Sunday ... more

Photo: San Antonio Express-News

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University of Texas Head Football Coach Charlie Strong speaks a press conference at the campus in Austin, Monday, Jan. 6, 2014. Strong, 53, formerly University of Louisville coach, took the job Sunday night replacing Mack Brown. less

University of Texas Head Football Coach Charlie Strong speaks a press conference at the campus in Austin, Monday, Jan. 6, 2014. Strong, 53, formerly University of Louisville coach, took the job Sunday night ... more

Photo: San Antonio Express-News

Strong has clear expectations of UT

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AUSTIN — The Louisville professor saw the man standing by the door and announced that the class had a special visitor. But Charlie Strong said he wasn't staying long.

The way Strong remembers it, he pointed to a young man wearing a gray Cardinals football sweater in the front row and explained to the professor how that same student had difficulty with attendance the year before.

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Strong isn't the one who brought that story up Wednesday. A reporter did. But what the new Texas football coach wanted to make clear was that, contrary to a growing narrative about him as some sort of half-drill sergeant, half-prison warden, he actually resembles neither.

Colleges

All he does, Strong said, is make sure players know exactly what is expected of them. As long as those standards are met, he said he's a happy man.

“My aim is not to come in here and run people off,” Strong said. “It's not about coming in and pounding the hammer on someone. ... I don't want to see them fail.”

And so far, he said, he's been given no reason to believe any of the Longhorns will. Over the past several days, while he was filling out the coaching staff he announced Wednesday, he met with each of his new players one-on-one.

Strong talked to them about football, but he also briefed them about the same set of off-field “expectations” — he likes that word better than “rules” — he enforced at Louisville.

Some of it was run-of-the-mill coaching stuff (no hats or cell phones in meetings). Some of it was run-of-the-mill parenting stuff (no drugs, no guns, no stealing). But some of it was new.

Most notably, Strong said he wants all of his players to live together on campus, although exceptions will be made for certain upperclassmen. In the past, many of UT's sophomores, juniors and seniors lived in off-campus apartments, which Strong said can lead to cliques.

Cliques, in turn, create what Strong called “a separation” between players when they should be working for each other.

“Why would I ever play for you if I don't know you?” Strong said.

In essence, what Strong preaches is an over-arcing sense of accountability, and that's one of the qualities that landed him a five-year, $26 million job at UT. Athletic director Steve Patterson confirmed as much the day Strong was hired.

And UT regent Robert Stillwell — a member of the eight-person advisory panel that assisted Patterson in his search — said the committee felt confident Strong would demand results.

“I wouldn't want to be the player to explain something to him after I messed up,” Stillwell said.

Strong, though, said it doesn't need to come to that. He laughed off a question about whether players are in for a rude awakening, saying he's not setting out to make their lives miserable.

But he did insist things need to improve.

“I told them how unhappy I am with where the program is right now,” Strong said. “It's going to fall upon all of us to go get it right.”

Strong said the players were receptive to the message. He said, “If they're willing to work, then things are going to work out.”